Legion Acknowledges Token Enhancement of New Veterans Charter

Mar 31, 2015

OTTAWA, ON, March 31st, 2015 – Yesterday’s announcement by VAC to enhance the New Veterans Charter by proposing a new Critical Injury Benefit (CIB) for those most severely injured or ill Veterans is good but still falls short of what the Legion was pushing for from the ACVA Recommendations.

“This series of piecemeal announcements that impact small groups of injured or ill Veterans, while appreciated, needs to focus on the big picture and address the issues that affect a majority of injured and ill Veterans,” says Royal Canadian Legion Dominion President Tom Eagles. “This benefit is poorly defined and it remains unclear whether it will also benefit those Veterans suffering from PTSD,” adds Eagles.

While we commend the government’s efforts today because the benefit is retroactive to 2006 and it does provide more support to our Veterans and their families in the weeks and months following a sudden event resulting in traumatic injury or disease; it does not address the ACVA recommendation that VAC undertake a comprehensive review of the amount of the disability award to more adequately reflect awards in civil liability cases for personal injuries, implement a transparent and clear process for determining its value, and improve support for financial counseling throughout the process.

The Legion urges the government to action all of the ACVA recommendations now.

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For further information please contact Bruce Poulin at Dominion Command, at (613) 591-3335 ext. 241 or by cell at (613) 292-8760 or bruce.poulin@legion.ca.